soups and stews

I’ve had many requests for some budget-friendly, easy, quick recipes that don’t require too many spices🙃. Leek and potato soup fits the bill. I’ve tweaked a classic recipe in the Wild Epicurean kitchen, adding a little fenugreek and garnishing the soup with garlic chips. As always free to leave out my ‘extras’ marked as optional in the recipe card.

We are always looking to invent new flavour combinations and play with ingredients to create something different, but leek and potato soup is a fantastic recipe. Inexpensive, easy to make, nutritious and filling.

My soup is smooth, but there is no need to whizz it if you have a great vegetable or meat stock. If you are going for the chunky version, ensure you saute the vegetables before adding the stock, infusing them with garlic and herbs. If not, you will have boiled vegetables in stock. The herbs and spices bring out the flavour of the leeks. Top this version with garlicky croutons.😁

I would go for a big batch – it’s more economical, and you can freeze half later.

Which Potatoes for Leek and Potato Soup?

Choose good quality potatoes – red potatoes are good if you are not going to whizz up the soup. A golden potato like Mayan Gold is good for the whizzed version. I use a local Greek potato or, if I can get hold of them, Cypriot potatoes, which are delicious.

However, let’s be honest if you are lucky enough to dig them up from your garden – that’s about as perfect as you can get.

I am writing this in early November, so leeks should be one of the more competitively priced vegs. Pick out young tender leeks and use as much green top as possible for your potato and leek soup. Slice them wafer-thin and let them simmer in the butter and oil mixture to tenderise them. Waste nothing! Leeks are a pain in so much as mud gets caught in the top leaves; peel them back and rise thoroughly. Finely slice and then wash again.

Choose your Garnish

Use freshly ground white or black pepper and grated hard cheese. Swirl in yoghurt or cream and top with sauteed leek tops, or fry some finely sliced garlic cloves to make garlic chips. I used parmesan – thickly grated😁.

Leek and Potato Soup

Creamy potatoes, leeks, fennel and carrot with a hint of garlic, oregano and fresh thyme.

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Course: light lunch, soup

Cuisine: English

Keyword: easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

Author: The Wild Epicurean

Equipment

• 1 large heavy-based saucepan with a lid

Ingredients

• 50 g butter
• olive oil
• 1 onion – roughly chopped
• 3 leeks – sliced using as much as possible of the tender green leaves
• 1 carrot – finely grated
• 1 fennel – roughly chopped optional
• 1 small finely sliced banana chilli optional
• 2-3 cloves garlic – roughly chopped
• 1 handful celery leaves – roughly chopped optional
• ¼-½ tsp fenugreek powder optional
• freshly ground white pepper you can also use black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1½ tsp dried oregano
• 400 g potatoes
• 1 litre vegetable or meat stock of your choice or 140 ml yoghurt, cream, kefir or milk and 840 ml stock.
• salt to taste

Garnish

• 2 cloves garlic – finely sliced
• 1 spring onion or finely shredded tender leaves of a small leek
• 60 ml yoghurt or kefir to swirl (mix in 1 tsp flour to stop it curdling when heated)
• 100 g grated cheese of your choice such a cheddar or parmesan or crumbled feta

Instructions

Leek and Potato Soup

• Melt the butter with a dash of olive oil and saute the leeks with a pinch of fenugreek powder and dried oregano for about a minute. Add the onions, fennel, celery leaves, carrot and fresh chilli. See notes for the chunky soup version.
• As soon as they soften, add the potatoes, garlic, bay leaf, freshly ground white (or black) pepper and fresh thyme.
• Cook for another 2-3 minutes, being careful not to let anything burn.
• Add half the stock and boil – slowly add the remaining stock, cover and simmer until all the vegetables are soft. About 30 minutes.
• If you are replacing the stock with yoghurt, cream or kefir – only add the 840ml of stock at this stage. If you are adding milk you can add it now.
• Remove the bay leaf and fresh thyme, whizz vegetables with a stick blender and adjust the seasoning – you may want to add salt at this stage. Add more milk or water if the soup is too thick to achieve the right consistency. If using, stir in the yoghurt or kefir (mixed with a teaspoon of flour) and slowly bring the soup back to a boil for 3 or 4 seconds.
• Finely slice the garlic and fry in a little oil, together with the leek tops or spring onions.
• Garnish your soup with garlic chips and fried leek tops, a swirl of yoghurt and/ or grated cheese or crumbled feta.

Notes

Chunky Soup Version

If you prefer to keep the vegetables whole, slice them a little thinner and chop the potatoes into small cubes. Grate or cube the carrot and finely grate the garlic. Otherwise, the method is the same.

For the chunky version,  you may also wish to make garlicky croutons to garnish your soup! Toss some cubed bread in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and dried oregano and gently fry over in a little more oil.

Use a good-quality stock cube if you don’t have homemade stock. Ensure you use enough stock cube(s) for 1 litre of water.